Catalan signs say sortida for the way out, and Spanish ones say salida.
Catalan uses seven or eight vowel sounds to Spanish's five, plus a few letters Spanish never uses.
| Catalan | Spanish | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it's official | Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, together with Spanish, and Andorra on its own | All of Spain and 20 more countries |
| Speakers | About 9 to 9.5 million, by a 2004 estimate | About 519 million first-language speakers |
| Vowels | Seven or eight, and many that aren't stressed get weaker | Five |
| Letters | ç, the dotted l·l, and ny where Spanish writes ñ | ñ |
| "We arrived" | vam arribar, where vam comes from anar (to go) | llegamos |
| Meaning | Catalan | Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| Table | taula | mesa |
| To eat | menjar | comer |
| Window | finestra | ventana |
| If you want to… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Get a Catalan certificate for work or study | Catalan |
| Settle in Andorra | Catalan |
| Live in Valencia and speak with locals in Valencian | Catalan |
| Travel across Spain and Latin America | Spanish |
Catalan: How Much Is a Coffee?
Quant costa un cafè
Marc is at the café.
How much does a coffee and a croissant cost?
That is three euros.
Very well, here you have three euros.
Thanks!
Spain Spanish: Saying Hello and Goodbye
Saludos y despedidas
Hello, Lucía!
Hello! How are you?
I am well, thanks.
See you later!
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes the lessons in Bubblegum, a language app, which keeps Catalan apart from its Spanish journeys.
Bubblegum
Bubblegum is the best app for serious learners. You learn from text and audio you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
- Each Catalan verb's table includes the Everyday Past, the tense built with vaig and vam, as in vam arribar.
- News stories in Catalan are rewritten to match your level.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- A Catalan book you own won't appear among your lessons, but Poppy will discuss any passage from it with you in the chat.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Is Valencian the Same as Catalan?
Yes. Valencian is the name used in the Valencian Community for the same language, and Valencians often use it for the language as a whole.
Which App Should a Beginner Choose?
If you are serious about learning a language, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. See the Catalan app comparison or the Spanish app comparison for more.
Is Bubblegum Free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Catalan language (the name Valencian is also used by Valencians for the language as a whole; shares official status with Spanish in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, where it is called Valencian; sole official language of Andorra; a 2004 study estimated 9–9.5 million speakers; marked differences from Spanish and Portuguese in pronunciation, grammar and especially vocabulary; closest affinity with Occitan)
- Wikipedia, Catalan phonology (7 to 8 vowel sounds, with vowel reduction)
- Wikipedia, Catalan grammar (most dialects form the past with vaig, vas, va, vam, vau, van plus the infinitive)
- Wikipedia, Catalan orthography (ç, l·l and the digraph ny)
- Wikipedia, Spanish language (about 519 million first-language speakers as of 2025; five vowel sounds; official in 21 countries)
- Wiktionary, sortida (Catalan: exit)
- Wiktionary, salida (Spanish: exit)
- Wiktionary, menjar (Catalan: to eat)
- Wiktionary, arribar (Catalan: to arrive)
- Wiktionary, anar (Catalan: to go; vaig, vas, va, vam, vau, van form the periphrastic past)
- Wiktionary, ventana (Spanish: window)
- Wiktionary, taula (Catalan: table)
- Wiktionary, finestra (Catalan: window)
- Bubblegum
Checked on October 5, 2026 against each app's own pages.
